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I. the Genus Pristomyrmex MAYR, 1866

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I. the Genus Pristomyrmex MAYR, 1866 Myrmecologische Nachrichten 8 59 - 68 Wien, September 2006 On the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Philippine Islands: I. The genus Pristomyrmex MAYR, 1866 Herbert ZETTEL Abstract The Philippine fauna of the ant genus Pristomyrmex MAYR, 1866 is analysed. Three species are described as new: Pristomyrmex distinguendus sp.n. from Luzon and Leyte, P. rugosus sp.n. from Leyte, and P. schoedli sp.n. from Leyte. One species, P. quadridens WANG, 2003, is recorded from the Philippines for the first time. Further unpublished records are presented for P. collinus WANG, 2003, P. longispinus WANG, 2003, P. picteti EMERY, 1893, and P. punctatus (F. SMITH, 1860). The genus contains 55 species world-wide. Seventeen species (= 30.9 %) are recorded from the Philip- pines, nine of which are endemic. An identification key to the Philippine species of Pristomyrmex is presented. Key words: Ants, Formicidae, Pristomyrmex, Philippines, key, new species, first record, fauna, endemism. Dr. Herbert Zettel, Natural History Museum, International Research Institute of Entomology, Burgring 7, A-1010 Vienna, Austria. E-mail: [email protected] Introduction Pristomyrmex MAYR, 1866 is an easily recognised genus This paper adds three new species and one first re- of the Myrmecinini as defined by BOLTON (2003: 71). Re- cord from the Philippines, assigns old Philippine records cently, WANG (2003) revised the taxonomy of Pristomyr- to islands, provinces, and actual locality names, and ana- mex; this study also contains an overview on the history of lyses the Philippine Pristomyrmex fauna zoogeographical- the genus and a definition based on 30 morphological char- ly. The author also wants to encourage Filipino entomo- acteristics of the worker, and 27 of the male. logists to pay attention to these beautiful ants, which are in- Within the Philippine fauna, workers of Pristomyrmex teresting not only faunistically, but even more in ecolo- can be easily distinguished from other myrmicine ants by gical aspects: Most species seem to be indicators for un- the combination of the following characters: antenna 11- disturbed or weakly disturbed forests and thus might be segmented and without well defined club; antennal scrobes useful for habitat conservation measures. absent, or reduced and situated above the small eyes; an- terior clypeal margin denticulate or crenulate; mandible Material and methods distally broadened and with long axis rotated so that the All specimens are dry mounted on card squares or tri- masticatory margin is (almost) vertical; petiole peduncu- angles. Examination of specimens was carried out with a late (see BOLTON 1994). Most Philippine species of Pristo- LEICA Wild M10 binocular microscope; measurements myrmex have pronotal spines, a characteristic which is only were taken at magnifications of 80 × and 128 ×. Digital found in two other myrmicine genera occuring in the Phil- photographs were taken with a Leica DFC camera attached ippines, Acanthomyrmex EMERY, 1893 and Pheidole WEST- to a Leica MZ16 binocular microscope using Image Man- WOOD, 1839, both of which have 12-segmented antennae. ager IM50 and processed with Auto-Montage Pro and Only a small part of the material treated in the present Adobe Photoshop 7.0 programmes. study was identified by Wang (labelled in 1998) and includ- Terminology and method of description follow WANG ed in his excellent revision. These additional specimens were (2003), definitions of AL and TL2 follow WANG (2003: either collected later or had not been sorted at that time. fig. 2). The 55 species of Pristomyrmex are distributed in the Measurements and indices (see also WANG 2003: figs. tropics and subtropics from Africa to Japan and Australia 1-3): (see WANG 2003). The majority (36 species) are Oriental in HW Head width. Maximum width of head, in full-face the widest sense (incl. New Guinea), with one species ex- view in front of eyes (excluding eyes). tending its range to the southeastern Palaearctic Region. HL Head length, in full-face view, excluding mandibles Six of seven Australian species are endemic, as are all five measured from midpoint of a straight line across pre- African species, and three species on the island of Mauri- occipital margin either to frontal-most point of apex tius. As shown in this paper, the Philippines certainly is a of median tooth of anterior clypeal margin or, if centre of diversity for two reasons: First, species reached median tooth short or absent, to midpoint of line the Philippines from Sundaland and from the Papuan sub- connecting frontal-most apices of the two lateral region, both of which are very rich in species; secondly, teeth of anterior clypeal margin. there are several species which seem to be endemic on cer- CI Cephalic index. HW / HL * 100. tain islands. Seventeen species (= 30.9 % of world fauna; SL Scape length. Length of antennal scape, including including new species and records) inhabit the Philippines, lamella encircling base of scape but excluding basal nine of which are endemic (see Discussion and Tab. 1). condyle. Stefan-Schödl-Gedenkband / Stefan Schödl Memorial Volume SI Scape index. SL / HW * 100. formula, lamella of scape). Although the grouping is obvi- PW Pronotal width. Maximum width of pronotum in dor- ously useful for a phylogeny of the genus, it is less help- sal view. ful for this faunal survey. Instead, a key primarily based on AL Alitrunk length. Diagonal length of alitrunk in later- more easily recognizable characteristics is presented. al view, from frontal-most point of declivous area of pronotum to posterior-most point of apex of me- Pristomyrmex bicolor EMERY, 1900 tapleural lobe. Material examined: Luzon: Laguna Pr., Mt. Banahaw, EL Eye length. Maximum length of eye. above Kinabuhayan, trail to Crystalino, 24.XI.1995, leg. TL Total length = TL1 + TL2 + TL3. TL1: Line mea- J. Kodada & R. Rigová, det. Wang M., 1 ∑ (NHMW). sured from apex of closed mandibles to midpoint of Diagnosis of worker: TL 4.5 - 6.2 mm. Clypeus dor- a straight line across occipital margin, in full-face sally with strong median carina, ventrally variably modi- view. TL2: Straight line from declivous area of pro- fied, but always without distinct central tooth. Masticatory notum to point at which posterior margin of postpet- margin of mandible with diastema. Dorsum of head rugo- iole meets uppermost point of articulation of gaster. reticulate, of alitrunk smooth. Pronotal spines very long TL3: Line from anterior-uppermost point of arti- (PSL1 > 0.35, usually > 0.40), much longer than propo- culation to apex of gaster. deal spines. First gastral tergite without setae. PSL1 Pronotal spine length. Straight distance from ante- Previous records from the Philippines: Palawan rior base to apex of pronotal spine. (Binaluan) [types of P. taurus] (STITZ 1925); L u zo n : PSL2 Propodeal spine length. Straight distance from pos- Laguna (Mt. Banahaw) (WANG 2003). terior base to apex of propodeal spine. General distribution: Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo, PPI Postpetiole index. PPW / PPL * 100. PPW: maxi- Philippines (WANG 2003). mum width of postpetiole in dorsal view. PPL: dor- Notes: The worker from Mt. Banahaw is the single so-median length of postpetiole. specimen of P. bicolor known from east of the Wallace' and All measurements are taken in millimetres. For para- Dickerson's Lines, which delimit the Pleistocenic Sunda types the minimum and maximum values are presented; n Shelf area to the east. It differs from other material exa- refers to the number of specimens measured. mined (including a syntype of P. bicolor) in a completely Locality data are arranged zoogeographically, within smooth pronotum and agrees in that characteristic with the Philippines the sequence follows the regions and sub- the type of P. taurus STITZ, 1925 from Palawan (synonymy regions listed by ONG & al. (2002) (see also Tab. 1). Data and discussion see WANG 2003: p. 425); also see discussion. are presented in the following order: (1) for Material exa- mined: "island, province, locality" for large islands con- Pristomyrmex brevispinosus EMERY, 1887 sisting of several administrative provinces, or "island, lo- No material from the Philippines examined. cality" for small island identical with or part of one pro- Diagnosis of worker: TL 3.0 - 4.3 mm. Clypeus dor- vince. (2) for Previous records: "island: province (locality / sally with median carina, ventrally with distinct central -ies)" for large islands consisting of several administrative tooth. Masticatory margin of mandible with diastema. Dor- provinces, or "island (locality)" for small island identical sum of head (at least behind eyes) and alitrunk rugoreti- with or part of one province. #-numbers are sample (loca- culate. Pronotal spines tooth-like (PSL1 0.06 - 0.12) sub- lity) numbers, but do not always refer to nest series. equal in length or slightly shorter than propodeal spines. Acronyms of repositories: First gastral tergite without setae. CZW Coll. H. & S.V. Zettel, Vienna, Austria Previous records from the Philippines: Mindanao: NHMW Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria Bukidnon (Malaybalay) (WANG 2003). UPLB University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Philip- General distribution: Japan (YAMANE & TERAYAMA pines 1999); Taiwan, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bor- USC University of San Carlos (Entomological Collec- neo, Philippines, Sulawesi (WANG 2003). tion), Cebu City, Philippines Diagnoses of species are given for the purpose of dis- Pristomyrmex collinus WANG, 2003 tinguishing the Philippine species from each other. Speci- Material examined: Lu zo n : Laguna Pr., Los Baños, Mt. mens of some endemic species have not been available for Makiling, 13. - 18.XI.1992, leg. H. Zettel (# 1), det. Wang study, although the author asked for permission to study M., 1 ∑ (CZW); Laguna Pr., Los Baños, Mt. Makiling, Mud some paratype specimens. In such cases the diagnoses are Spring, 23. - 24.I.1999, leg. H. Zettel (# 167), 1 ∑ (CZW); based on the descriptions and diagnoses by WANG (2003), Laguna Pr., Mt. Banahaw, above Kinabuhayan, trail to and photographs of type specimens presented by ALPERT Crystalino, 24.XI.1995, leg.
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